reviews on 4oo emperor filters
- Thread starter jft
- Start date
I'd go AC too- the Emporer's are all right but the last couple I had crapped out after a year or less. Quality has gone down it seems.
They are ok. I have a 400 and a 280. Kinda noisy. If it were me I'd do the ac110 as well. Little better built and quieter.
I switched from AC 70s and ac110s to emp 400s and never looked back so far. Just sold of my last crappy AC110!
Love the emp 400s, the biowheels will never get stuck if you clean the filter about every 6 months. There are spray bars in the emp 400s to make sure the biowheels do not get stuck. I own 4 of these filters and love them since you can put whatever you want in them. I use the sponges that come with them and put matrix in the grey cartridge things. I also put pothos in front of the sponges to take up nitrates without having to worry about the roots touching the impeller.
Nothing wrong with the ACs really unless one breaks and floods your apartment and you almost get kicked out of your apartment and the Hagen Company refuses to answer your emails or send you any parts (can you tell this is personal experience here?). Also the Acs are a little noisy for my liking, I like quiet in my bedroom.
That would be the main reason why I switched from ACs to marineland filters. I do also use Rena Canisters as well with my Marinelands.
As for quality going down hill on them, I honestly don't know. I did have a few that arrived broken, but marineland sent me brand new ones (only took a few days) and told me to keep the old ones for spare parts. It was great and the best customer service I have ever dealt with.
Best of luck with whatever you choose. I do think Emp 400s are one of the most underrated HOB filters. They are certainly my favorite HOB filter.
Love the emp 400s, the biowheels will never get stuck if you clean the filter about every 6 months. There are spray bars in the emp 400s to make sure the biowheels do not get stuck. I own 4 of these filters and love them since you can put whatever you want in them. I use the sponges that come with them and put matrix in the grey cartridge things. I also put pothos in front of the sponges to take up nitrates without having to worry about the roots touching the impeller.
Nothing wrong with the ACs really unless one breaks and floods your apartment and you almost get kicked out of your apartment and the Hagen Company refuses to answer your emails or send you any parts (can you tell this is personal experience here?). Also the Acs are a little noisy for my liking, I like quiet in my bedroom.
That would be the main reason why I switched from ACs to marineland filters. I do also use Rena Canisters as well with my Marinelands.
As for quality going down hill on them, I honestly don't know. I did have a few that arrived broken, but marineland sent me brand new ones (only took a few days) and told me to keep the old ones for spare parts. It was great and the best customer service I have ever dealt with.
Best of luck with whatever you choose. I do think Emp 400s are one of the most underrated HOB filters. They are certainly my favorite HOB filter.
komodo182;5093407; said:
I own both types of filters (emp 400 and 2)ac110's). They are both very good filters. They just require a little different procedure in cleaning. The ac110 case has the tendency to crack as they are fragile. With the emp 400 you just need to make sure that they spray bars are cleaned out well. The emp gets a little noisey after a while but still a good filter. If you use fine sand for substrate, it doesn't matter which hob filter you choose. It will get noisey from sand getting caught in the impeller housing.
my 2 cents,
Chris
I'm gonna have to go with the emp 400. I have friends that own the 110's and the only complaint I heard about was the customer service. I know about the emp's but what I hear from friends and reading the comments on mfk I dont think you can go wrong. I have the emp400 and the xp3 on my 75 and all is good for now.
I've used both AC110 and Emperor 400 as well. Never had problems with either one.
My Emperor 400 lasted me for years without any issues. I like the way the spray bars can be adjusted to get the desired flow. The other nice thing that I like was that there's a lip so the water current wouldn't go directly down into the tank, but had more of a gentle surface movement. Never had the Bio-Wheel stop on me even after years of use. It was getting a bit noisy (not much though) after awhile, but I did have the older model where there was a priming stick which the new ones don't have. And that's where the noise was coming from. I like the look. It's very sleek and I like how the intake is in the middle. It makes me feel like I can place the filter anywhere on the tank whether it'd be on the left, middle, or right side of the tank. I used to change out the cartridge every so often and would clean the filter once a year by dismantling it and clean each part (I would rinse the Bio-Wheel with aquarium water).
I bought the AC110 a couple of years ago. It's a more simple design which means easier cleaning. The media aren't cartridges so you almost don't have to replace anything for awhile. You can fit more media as well. The flow rate is more powerful than the Emperor 400. Even though the flow rate can be adjusted, the AC110 doesn't have that lip. So if you have a shallow tank, the substrate may be disturb by the current. I also don't like that the intake is just on the right. I feel that it means that the filter only belongs on the right side of the tank (left, if you're looking at it).
I haven't used the AC110 as much as the Emperor 400. As I just got this a couple of years ago, I also switched over to all canisters a year ago. The AC110 was only used sparingly too, as it was used in a quarantine/hospital tank. It's probably only been in use for less than a year. So this is just sitting in the garage as a backup filter.
My Emperor 400 lasted me for years without any issues. I like the way the spray bars can be adjusted to get the desired flow. The other nice thing that I like was that there's a lip so the water current wouldn't go directly down into the tank, but had more of a gentle surface movement. Never had the Bio-Wheel stop on me even after years of use. It was getting a bit noisy (not much though) after awhile, but I did have the older model where there was a priming stick which the new ones don't have. And that's where the noise was coming from. I like the look. It's very sleek and I like how the intake is in the middle. It makes me feel like I can place the filter anywhere on the tank whether it'd be on the left, middle, or right side of the tank. I used to change out the cartridge every so often and would clean the filter once a year by dismantling it and clean each part (I would rinse the Bio-Wheel with aquarium water).
I bought the AC110 a couple of years ago. It's a more simple design which means easier cleaning. The media aren't cartridges so you almost don't have to replace anything for awhile. You can fit more media as well. The flow rate is more powerful than the Emperor 400. Even though the flow rate can be adjusted, the AC110 doesn't have that lip. So if you have a shallow tank, the substrate may be disturb by the current. I also don't like that the intake is just on the right. I feel that it means that the filter only belongs on the right side of the tank (left, if you're looking at it).
I haven't used the AC110 as much as the Emperor 400. As I just got this a couple of years ago, I also switched over to all canisters a year ago. The AC110 was only used sparingly too, as it was used in a quarantine/hospital tank. It's probably only been in use for less than a year. So this is just sitting in the garage as a backup filter.
